Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “teach sons to respect girls”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the UK yesterday where he addressed the Indian diaspora.

The Kathua rape-murder case echoed at PM Narendra Modi’s public programme here on Wednesday when he said there should be no politics over rape.

The rape of a little girl was a ‘crime against society’ but playing a ‘blame game’ was an even ‘bigger mistake’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath, a diaspora event which was held in central London on Wednesday.

Referring to the recent incidents of sexual assault, he said they were a shame to the society.

“A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate this exploitation of our daughters? But can we compare the number of rapes in different governments? We can’t say there were this many rapes in our government and that many in yours. There cannot be a worse way to deal with this issue,” Modi told at the event, where he referred to the Kathua victim as the “eight-year-old-girl”.

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The PM said people need to teach their sons to treat girls with respect. “We ask our daughters what they have been doing when they come home late, but do we ask our sons? These sinners are somebody’s sons!” he said.

Around 1,700 attended the high-security event.

Modi also spoke on the decision to launch surgical strikes in Kashmir in 2016.

“To people who export terrorism it is time to tell them India has changed,” he declared in response to a question on the 2016 strikes. In response to those who engaged in a proxy fight “should I not respond with like for like?” he said.

Modi said that democracy was not a ‘contract’ but a partnership that had to be participatory.

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Talking about the up-coming Karnataka elections and the Lingayat community, Modi said: “We are so divided in India because of caste, but Lord Basaweshwara brought everyone together… We do not know enough about our ancient history yet people know about the Magna Carta.”

Modi also spoke of his visit to the Basaveswara statue in London, healthcare, power, and sanitation, making several pointed references to the Congress, and defending his government’s track record to date.

“I may make mistakes but never with a bad intention,” he insisted. Drawing a parallel between him and Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister said Gandhi had made independence a public movement, while he wished to make development a public movement.